This invention relates to the continuous vertical casting of a metal pipe equipped with an end fitting. Although the invention is applicable to pipes of any thickness, it is particularly well adapted to the manufacture of thin-walled pipes displaying a low thickness to diameter ratio of less than 10%. The wall thickness may vary, as a function of the pipe diameter, from less than 5 mm (80 mm diameter) to less than 15 mm (1,000 mm diameter).
German Pat. No. 804,840 teaches the continuous ascending casting of a metal tube having a small diameter and very thick walls, which is gradually extracted from a bath of molten metal as it solidifies inside a short, vertically positioned draw tube, the bottom end of which communicates with the metal bath. This process does not provide for casting a tube having an integral end fitting.